Penn men's soccer goes winless in Seattle

When coach Rudy Fuller put together his team’s schedule this year, everyone knew this road trip would be tough.

However, while the score lines of Penn men’s soccer’s west coast games this weekend were not what the Quakers wanted, the team showed a great deal of resilience against two talented opponents. Penn fell 2-0 and 3-1 to Seattle and No. 10 Washington, respectively.

In the first half of the team’s Friday match against Seattle, the Quakers struggled to get off quality shots despite putting the Seattle defense under solid pressure.

Sophomore Alec Neumann was called offside after sliding a shot just outside the post in the 22nd minute, and freshman Chris Scian redirected a cross just wide in the 33rd minute. But by the end of the half, Penn had failed to get a shot on goal.

It was the home team’s pressure that finally payed dividends in the 75th minute, as Seattle sophomore Jeff Rose found the back of the net off a 25-yard right-footed strike, giving the Redhawks a 1-0 advantage.

Penn refused to go quietly after falling behind, though. Both sophomore Matt Poplawski and freshman Sam Wancowicz missed just wide on headers in the waning minutes of the match. Penn would pay for its attacking pressure in the 87th minute, however, when senior Brady Ballew found himself one-on-one with Penn goalkeeper Max Polkinhorne and slid home Seattle’s second and final goal.

However, Penn had no time to sit and brood over its first loss of the season. 48 hours later, the Quakers took the field again, this time against the No. 10 Huskies

After 37 minutes of soccer, Washington had the slight edge in both possession and shots. Despite several solid saves by Polkinhorne, the Huskies struck first on a shot from senior Darwin Jones from 12 yards out to open the scoring.

In this game, however, Penn responded almost immediately.

Two minutes later, Penn’s senior captain Duke Lacroix dribbled around the Washington keeper to draw the Quakers back level in the 40th minute.

“We changed up our formation in the second game,” Lacroix said. “We changed up to a 4-3-3 formation which allowed us to press more, and we were able to get more opportunities.”

The game began to ramp up in intensity in the second half, but the Quakers maintained a good defensive composure.

As the Huskies attack began to gain more momentum, Polkinhorne had several crucial saves, including a diving save in the 48th and one to deny a Washington forward at point blank range in the 63rd.

However, just when it seemed like Penn might be able to break though with less than ten minutes to play, junior Forrest Clancy was denied by the Washington keeper.

Instead, it was the Huskies who found the back of the net off a corner kick to make it 2-1.

Unfortunately, Penn’s woes were not to stop there. Washington was able to add a final insurance goal with ten seconds left after some officiating confusion. However, despite this finish, the team remained positive about its weekend.

“I think my takeaway from this weekend was we competed extremely well for 80 plus minutes against some of the best teams in the country,” Lacroix said. “We fought in both games for that win, and we kept pressing. I think we competed really well.”

“We played some very good teams, but I think we have the talent to go out there and get a result and not just try to put in a good effort,” Fuller added. “I think with a little more belief in how good we really are and with a little sharper performance we can come away from these tough games with wins.”

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